Media – 2015

My good friend Sam Antar of Crazy Eddie fame, told me that the only thing you are good for when you are the target of a federal investigation is “information.” “You don’t get credit for helping little old ladies across the street or helping young children,” Antar said, “but if you have information on others, then you’re sitting in a good position to help yourself.” Antar was sentenced to house arrest for his role as the CFO of Crazy Eddie.

Sam Antar, the co-founder of New York’s “Crazy Eddie” chain of electronics stores, recently recounted that in the 1980s, Bank Leumi, a major Israeli bank, deployed employees to New York to help open numbered bank accounts in Israel and to help move the cash abroad. When funds were needed domestically, Leumi’s American subsidiary offered “sham business loans” that “were secretly secured by the cash deposited at Bank Leumi-Israel.” Antar said that under this arrangement, his family was “able to deduct the interest paid on those loans as a business expense, while earning tax-free interest on the funds deposited overseas.”

Sam Antar is confident, forthcoming and intelligent. He passed the CPA exam on his first attempt with a 91 average. He works as a forensic accountant and a public speaker. He also helps law enforcement officials catch white-collar criminals.

On the outside, Antar appears to be a respectable law-abiding citizen. But if you think that, you don’t know the real Sam Antar.

This is the sine qua non of fraud. As mordantly put by Sam Antar, former Crazy Eddie CFO, de-licensed certified public accountant, and convicted felon, “white collar crime is a crime of persuasion. It is a crime committed with a smile rather than a gun. Many white collar criminals are likable and charming people. They use their likable personality as a tool to gain the confidence of their victims. That is why white collar criminals are called ‘con men’.”